Egypt poll body reverses ban on last Mubarak-era PM

Egypt’s electoral commission on Wednesday went back on a decision to bar ousted leader Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister from running in the May 23 presidential election.

“The electoral commission… has decided to give its green light for Ahmed Shafiq’s candidacy in the presidential election, having accepted his appeal,” the official MENA news agency reported.

The election panel on Tuesday had barred him from running to comply with a bill adopted by the Islamist-dominated parliament earlier this month banning the candidacies of all senior Mubarak-era officials.

Shafiq, a general and former civil aviation minister, had been named premier in the final days of Mubarak’s three-decade rule last year as he battled an 18-day popular uprising.

Mubarak-era intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who briefly served as vice president, was also disqualified on the technical grounds that he failed to secure the statutory number of endorsements from all the country’s provinces.

The electoral commission is due to publish a definitive list of candidates on Thursday.